San José Gateway PhD Program Grad Aims to Advance Librarian/Faculty Collaboration
Tina Inzerilla’s new title of Doctor of Philosophy became official in January 2013, when she eagerly received notice that her doctoral dissertation was approved. She is the latest student to complete the San José Gateway PhD Program, a partnership between the San José State University School of Library and Information Science (SJSU SLIS) and Queensland University of Technology (QUT), one of Australia’s top research institutions.
A 2005 graduate of the SJSU School of Library and Information Science’s Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) program, Inzerilla works as an instructional and reference librarian at Las Positas College, a community college in Livermore, Calif.
Inzerilla said her research for her dissertation, titled “Community College Faculty’s Teaching Social Networks and their Implications for Librarians,” used both social network analysis and “semi-structured” interviews.
“My thesis was a step forward in advancing librarians in their efforts to collaborate with faculty,” she said. “The research discovered the influencers on faculty’s teaching social networks, the benefits and challenges of collaboration, and provided insights into ways librarians may be a more integral part of faculty’s teaching social networks.”
Inzerilla’s future plans include publishing articles and possibly a book based on her dissertation.
Dr. David Loertscher served as her San José State University faculty supervisor for her doctoral work.
Inzerilla is the fourth person to earn a doctorate through the San José Gateway PhD Program, which admitted its first students in 2008. The first three students graduated from the program in 2012.
Using a distance education model, the international doctoral degree program serves students who work part time or full time while earning their PhD degrees. They receive guidance and one-on-one mentoring from both SJSU SLIS and QUT faculty.